Taeros Snowstrider
Wise eyes peak out from beneath a furred hood that conceals a rugged but young elven visage topped by shoulder length black hair, this is Taeros Snowstrider, the newest Druid chosen by the Spirits from the Shamans of the North. He adorns his body with a flowing robe of green and decorations of bone and feather. The arms of the robe are cut away revealing his druidic tell: sleeves of jet black raven feathers cover his arms from wrist to elbow. “Having communed with the Spirits I have been tasked to learn more of the world beyond the North in order to prepare our people for a coming time of troubles. This is my reason for travelling, and my task that cannot be failed!” Taeros is in Greybark to study and learn from the trees and Spirits of the area, as a forest of this kind is unknown to his people and Spirits they serve. After a few weeks of being in Greybark learning about local oddities, such as “Gods” and “magic” Taeros sat down for a meal at the Fool and Purse only to get sucked up in a bet with the other patrons. He staked winning 50 coin that some strange leery-eyed halfing couldn’t go punch an undead elf, and naturally couldn’t turn up an opportunity to drink and celebrate before setting off to help the halfing, a “cleric” and a magic-wielder to be sure the money flowed their way. On the way they came across some giants, as drunk as they were, and ready to fight. They fended off the giants with fire darts, prayers to some death goddess, a couple of punches, and most importantly, a drunk, raging bear-form Taeros! Afterward they came upon a nice tranquil glade inhabited by an undead elf and his family. Robbing the elf of his unlife the group burned the glade to ash to rid the area of this filthy necromantic corruption, after of course letting the crazy halfling get in a few punches for the money. Having previously been promised an audience by Elondra Taeros attempted to contact her, but was unable to do so, seemingly being prevented by the Spirits, he took that as a sign and has chosen not to attempt further contact. Taeros’ second outing came quickly when he took it up with some wizard that he would accompany his group back to the glade, since he was curious anyway about what became of that smoldering ruin. Upon arrival the truth-revealing eyes of Owl showed Taeros dead and tortured spirits lying on the ground and in the waters, signalling that the cleansing fire wasn’t so cleansing. The group set to combat against some Chuul; wicked corrupted creatures dwelling in the lake. However, in the middle of the fight Albus Knights appeared seeking the head of one of Taeros’ companions, Sanguinus Oathbreaker. While Sanguinus set to work on his former comrades Taeros and Wheston began a fight for their lives out in the water. During the fight Taeros noticed necromantic magics being worked by the filthy wizard he accompanied to begin with and forever swore to wipe the evil stain of that wizard off the island. The fight became dire when Taeros, battered, bleeding, and seconds from drowning put all his remaining effort into one last task: the purification of the glade. Using ancient purification rituals known by his people, Taeros channeled life energy back into the land with his dying breath, or so he thought. Dixie the pixie saved his life, a debt he’s not soon to forget, and he was allowed to continue his work, which he saw as honoring the spirits with the life he had been given back by his companion. The Glade consecrated in the name of his spirits and the chull and knights defeated the group returned home where Taeros re-devoted himself in the shamanistic ways to the Spirits of the North in order to better serve them as both chosen Druid and Shaman. Having spent time studying the Chuul, Taeros gained some insight into their origin (corrupted giant crabs) and the Spirit of Giant Crab, being granted their form. Later that week the third adventure began when, With the blessing of the Spirits of the North, Taeros helped Yong Lin and Willem re-seal an evil in a remote part of the forest near the Highwall Peaks. The evil, a great “Darkness” that at some point had been sealed in an elven tomb, had corrupted the surrounding land, but qucik action by Willem and Taeros saw it sealed away and Yong-Lin’s wit provided means to communicate with the air spirits, gaining them a few useful boons, not the least of which was safe passage in the Highwall territory.Returning home with coin and heartwood in hand Taeros placed the chime totem and heartwood totem in the Tranquil Glade, as well as carving a second chunk of heartwood into a totem to Bear to further cement the place of the Spirits in the Glade. Having heard of his brother’s exploits at some place called “The Pilllar” of course Taeros was quick to take the job when a posting was found calling for willing adventurers to help in securing the place from people who worship a supposedly evil Deity (Silly humans). There they discovered a foul ritual being conducted by a score of cultists to invest power into powerful beings known as “Blade Lords”. The cultists were quickly bested by a clever trap invented by Lily and laid out by a Frostbite Spider-form Taeros designed to trap them under icy webs then set them alight and burn the cultists. However, the trap failed and only half the room succumbed to the flames. At this point Taeros called upon the latent elemental spirits around the Pillar and unleashed the fire spirits upon the cultists still clambering up the tunnels. Soon after the Blade Lords arrived in the room and the party set to work defeating them, ending with them tumbling into the ravine, no longer an issue, but probably not dead. With this adventure ended, Taeros was reminded of a greater evil still to deal with— the Darkness under the elven tomb… Taeros spent the coming weeks in deep contemplation of the nature of the Darkness and possible ways to expel it from this realm permanently. He soon became party to a group of adventurers that set off to investigate the murder of the town drunk, Festin, as it had a seeming connection to the darkness. Turns out it had a huge one, Festin was murdered by some blood-cult construct that fed on the blood of its victims, and they were hunting Taeros for re-sealing the darkness away. This is getting interesting. Taeros spent some time off helping find a runaway groom for a wedding. This, however, proved to be the reckoning Taeros truly had wanted to avoid. His anger at Lily constantly undermining his Spirits in favor of his “Goddess” finally drove Taeros over the edge. A Goddess with no power was nothing, so he issued the ultimatum: Forsake Lumotar and admit the Spirits are the only reason you live, or you will not live much longer. He refused, and Taeros allowed him to drown in sand and wine, slipping into death. But this broke Taeros in the coming weeks. The guilt of killing someone who deep down was an ally ressovled Taeros to confront the darkness in the elven tomb and end it all, even if it meant his death. Soon after this resolve manifested, Taeros imparted his plan to Corvos and made off to find Goodman Faire, who had been seen defacing the woods. One thing led to another and with the unwitting help of Usto he managed to convince the party to kill the darkness, now known to them as Valak, a demons lover. Taeros commanded the earth spirits down around him, crumbling the mountain into boulders that left nothing of himself or Valak. Corvos moved on, becoming a shaman in his own right, and as a shaman proclaiming Taeros’ noble sacrifice to have earned him his own legend, and thus the new name: Taeros Mountainheart ~~R.I.P. Noble Shaman